Kikandwa Community Secondary School

Scenes from Kikandwa Community Secondary School

END OF YEAR NEWSLETTER
Well another year has finished a few more grey hairs, thankfully i don’t have easy access to a mirror.
Our students in S4 sat for their National Exams in October and November and for the first time they were able to sit for them at school. It was important that the school was well prepared and that the exams went smoothly. Which thankfully they did. The problems we have had in previous years especially with the students becoming sick were not there.
We also had some S6 students doing their HSC a few of them had been at the school since it began in 2006. Its a bit sad to see them leave. However this year we were able to start a bursary scheme for Tertiary Education for about 8 of our S6 leavers from last year. It has been a bit of a struggle but we have managed to get them through to finish their first semester. We are hoping that again to help some of this year’s S6 in the same way.
In the last term we were able to start the library thanks to a fund raising drive from Sceggs. All going well it should be ready for the start of the next year. Also have a container coming from Australia with all shelving, donated from Liverpool Council Library. We have almost completed building two rooms for our teachers.. It’s important to have some teachers stay at the school they help to look after the boarders. Also improves security. It has been hard to entice teachers to stay at the school so we hope to make them as comfortable as possible.
Next year is a big year we have SCEGGS coming, 56 girls, teachers and company staff we estimate about 70 in all. Will keep Teddy and i busy for the first half of the year. Expect them in June, just pray that it will be as successful as the two previous visits.
The 3rd term has been difficult, we knew this term was not going to be easy. However we have had some problems with the sponsorship and some of our students we were hoping to get sponsored but so far we have failed to do so. Therefore the last few months paying the teachers have been very stressful. It seems the last two months of the year as well as the first two of the year to be the hardest for us to pay them. This year it appears we are not be able to pay November salaries which always comes in time for Christmas. It is hard to tell the teachers that they won’t have that money for Christmas. I pray for the day when the school will have enough money to pay them on time. Until then the grey hairs will keep multiplying. So again i appeal to my supporters if you can help us to find some more sponsors at the moment we seem to have about 20 still requiring sponsorship. If we got all 20 sponsored it would pay 3 months salaries for our teachers. Most of them needing sponsorship are boarding students which is $350.
Below i have listed some of our projects we wish to start next year and a short explanation why we need it.
1. Our major project is a triple block which would convert into a main hall and an examination room for national exams. For the school to expand this is a must. Estimated cost $34,000
2. Finish fencing the school to improve security Estimated cost $2,500.
3. To improve the access of water to our students, our main water source is becoming more unreliable and polluted due to nearby development. We need to address this problem two ways.
a) Sink a bore hole as far as possible away from our existing water source estimated cost $2,500
b) Harvest the remaining main classroom block estimated cost $3,800.

4. Improve existing solar system at the school. Estimated cost $1,300. The existing system doesn’t give us enough lighting for the students to do their reading at night.
5. Improve the office and staff room. Estimated cost $1,400, existing conditions are quite cramp
6. Storerooms Estimated cost $2,000 have had problems with school property either stolen or not looked after properly
7. To plaster and paint the main block Estimated cost $1,800, improve image of the schoo, presently the school looks unfinished.
8. Textbooks although we are slowly adding to our number we still need many more. Estimated cost any donation will be great, give you an estimate it costs about $70 to have one student properly equipped with books.
Thanks again for your support, wish you all a happy Christmas and akk the best for the New Year
Rick